Yud Shevat with the (possibly) greatest living Rabbi on the planet

So I go to the Minnesota farbrengen for literally five minutes, and who's there but Webby from Crownheights.info with his camera taking pictures, making it look like I was there the whole time. Well, I wasn't. I would have liked to be, but I was by the (practically empty) ohel tonight (said the whole maaneh lashon! First time ever! Woohoo!), and when I got home I had to eat something before I fell completely off the face of the earth. Then I walk to this farbie, and leave five minutes later for another. Crazy. Oh yeah, here's a nice little picture he snapped of yours truly:

That would be me in the green sweater, TC, and Shlomo Goldin. Here's some pictures of us from a couple of months ago. For all those who think my green sweater is cute, does it become less cute if I wear it nearly every day? Just wondering. The two guys in the foreground are Baruch Dorfman and Rabbi Mottel Friedman, of Nshei Chabad fame. Moments after the snapping of this picture Mr. Webby snapped one of me sticking my tongue out at him. He said, "You'll regret that!", to which I said, "Are you kidding me? I'd love that posted online!" He smiled as if he'd fulfill my wish, but then someone told him who I was and about my deep-seated need for as much publicity as possible, and I guess he reconsidered, which kind of stinks, because it was a cute picture, green sweater and long pick tongue and all.
Anyway, from there I made my way to the LA Farbrengen being held in the Beis Levi Yitzchak Shul with Rabbi Mendy Schapiro, who happens to be possibly the most sincerely religious person I have ever met. As in, he really cares. Sure, other people care, but he does something about it.
Due to the limitations of the medium (iPod Touch 2nd Gen) and the many people talking in the room I wasn't able to hear everything he said, so the following may be a little choppy, and perhaps even a bit jagged, which would conform to some people's opinion of me in real life. e, when will you get a blog I can link to? Anyway, here it is. Remember, all the mistakes are no doubt mine, all the genius is doubtlessly the rabbi's. Enjoy.

Moshiach is not going to come through those chassidim who saw the Rebbe and loved him. The chassidim who work hard, those who didn't see the rebbe, they're the ones who are going to bring moshiach.
The Rebbe didn't want bochurim who thought bad about themselves. He wanted bochurim who thought they could change the world.
Nowadays bochurim are depressed. Not depressed, but walking about in a daze.
When I was a bochur I had a real bochur issue. I thought I was a lost case. I wrote to the Rebbe in adar '52.
A chossid is not affected by the world around him. Because the world is bluff.
When you're alone in your bedroom, and you open an igros. I know people who watch movies. They do it because they're not happy with themselves. The Rebbe speaks the word of Hashem. If you learn sichos, translating each and every word, and make a decision to not be a woman, not be a wimp. Grab your etzem. You won't feel atzmus, you'll feel strong. We live in a wacky generation. The Rebbe told us that moshiach is coming. Who's going to bring him? Not the big chassidim who love. It's going to be the chassdim who work.
A bochur messed up in shidduchim, the Rebbe told him to learn chassidus.
The Rebbe is moshiach, but before we say that we say adoneinu, moreinu, and rabbeinu. We have to accept the Rebbe before we can have moshiach.
The chassidim who saw the Rebbe, they don't have it hard. Unless you're a chitzon, what's so difficult?
The kavanah is, there's no default. When will chassidus be real? When you make decisions and act according to chassidus. Not through giluim will you bring moshiach. Through hard work. Who is going to bring moshiach? The bochurim who struggled.
I speak to bochurim who are engaged. They tell me, without the rebbe's horaos, you're a lost case. Forget about Torah, how do you deal with anger?
Before the Rebbe, no one spoke about tafkid hador. There's going to be opposition. How do you deal with opposition? Not through love only. You have to fight it.
B'gashmius, it's amazing. Kids, jobs, life. Mofsim. Tomorrow there'll be bochurim who will have mofsim themselves. They're going to make a decision to become a better person.
Bottom line is, if you go to the Rebbe tomorrow, and you made hachanos, are you going to drop those hachanos when you're done? That's not what the Rebbe wants. The Rebbe wants you to continue on.
--------
There's a story that doesn't work so much-Lazer, you're a shtickel baal seichel. There's a story from the Rebbe-acharon shel pesach 17 the Rebbe brought the story. It's an unpopular story. It might not work. If you're a pnini it'll work. The Rebbe told about Shmuel Munkes. He was a smart guy with a sense of humor. He was looking for the Alter Rebbe in Liozna at the middle of the night. He said that the Rebbe must be up in the middle of the night. He looked around the town, every house was dark except for the Rebbe's house.
The Rebbe learned Torah all night. The Rebbe didn't sleep.
Shmuel Munkes said, I want to sleep in your house. The Alter Rebbe said, you couldn't find anywhere else to sleep? Shmuel Munkes said, this is also a Jewish home! The Rebbe said, I'll call my goy to throw you out. Shmuel said, my goy is bigger than your goy! Fine, the Rebbe let him stay.

The Rebbe explained this story. A bochur comes and says, I want to learn chassidus, to be a chassis. Do we welcome you with open arms? No! We investigate. Do you want to be cool and hip, or do you want to be battul? You have a goy? What does the goy want and do? Even after that, your goy is bigger than the Rebbe's goy. You sinned. You become a chassis easily? Not happening. Cry. Then you can become a chassis.

There are a lot of beautiful homes in the world. But you have to go to a light house. One that has the light of Torah.
You can't just say that you want it. Don't just think that by wanting it you can get it. You have to go to a light house. No ego. No self.
Don't think you can just write to the Rebbe and it'll all turn out fine. You can't just surrender. You have to cry out and say, my goy is bigger! Just because you want to be a chassid doesn't mean the Rebbe will accept you. There are no smooth roads. You have to cry. You have to beg to be accepted. You have to want it very hard.
Don't think you farbrenged, decided to be a chassid, and now the sky is going to open for you. You have to open your own heart. Bochurim think that they work hard, and now they should feel elokus. Well, it's not going to happen. It takes hard work. You have to live with chassidus. Until moshiach comes there is no red carpet. There is no free lunch, no free supper.
--------
When a bochur these days wants to be serious, not ad d'lo yadah, it's very easy to put the Rebbe out of the picture. There's a story with R. Yoel Kahn. There was a family who lived in a totally frie kibbutz. They were sick of living in Israel where the religious parties are taking over. So they moved to Tasmania. He was a professor in psychology. They moved so that no one should bother them. Tasmania is the achurayim. It's far away from far away. They moved away and had a good time. No one bugged them.
This is like bochurim who want no one to bother them.
The reform rabbi there left back to America, and they needed a new rabbi. The congregation needed a new rabbi, and they came to this professor and asked him to become their rabbi. He said he wasn't even reform, he doesn't believe in everything, but they said, you're Israeli, you can read Hebrew. He became the rabbi.
His Kids started to ask him regarding yiddishkeit. He had no answers. His wife started praying. A week later he met rabbi Gutnick walking down the street in Tasmania, and they became close, and eventually they came to the Gutnick's house in Melbourne, and asked, why did you come here? Gutnick said, we got a letter saying we should come to Tasmania. When was the letter? The day the woman prayed to Hashem, if you're there, please, show us a sign.
You might think she cried and the Rebbe answered. R' Yoel Kahn said, the Rebbe thought of them, and she cried.